Nightmares and Memories
by Blondemidget
Summary: Peeta Mellark has been taken by the Capitol. But what we dont hear is how he endured those endless hours of torture, how he kept sane enough to survive the cruel clutches of President Snow.


I was splattered with my own blood. I couldn't move, couldn't hear anything but Joanna's screams of agony through the thin metal walls. I could barely think a comprehendible thought. My body broken beyond repair.

I was to detached to even think of my physical injuries. Each second ticked by like a bruise throbbing beneath a wound. Everything ached, everything burned.

Joanna's shrieks echoed ominously into my small cavern. She moaned, sobbing, banging her fists against the floor. I heard a distinct splashing noise like water. The zap of electricity brought around imagery of charred flesh, smouldering and decaying.

She howled, wounded like an animal, audibly raking her fingernails into the wall.

The scent of singed hair mingled with the smell of our blood.

I shuddered, coughing up blood, vision blurring. Katniss's strong face never left my mind as I was thrown into this torture chamber.

_Memories._

Both of us secluded in the cave at our first Hunger Games. Gentle kisses, caresses, whispered endearments. Never knowing if it was our last waking moment.

We were ten. Pouring rain. Throwing the loaf of burnt bread in the mud for her.

Our second Hunger Games, the small beach at the Cornucopia. My hand closing hers around the golden locket.

"_No on really needs me" I say._

"_I do" Katniss whispers. "I need you."_

Grey eyes. Her eyes. Soft lips. Warm embrace. Her, me, District Twelve. Gale. My family. Haymitch. Mockingjay's. Finnick. The Mutts. Berries. Panem. Pain.

Always pain.

"Are you ready to talk, Peeta Mellark?" A distorted voice whispers at me through the gloom, tone like ice. I opened my eyes in time to see a small camera appearing from the wall, lens focused upon my face. The prying eyes of President Snow prickled my skin, drinking in my reaction and weakness. I said nothing, bowing my head into the crimson flow ever spreading onto the stark tiles. Without another word, the camera descended back into the wall, entrance closing with a click. I hugged my body, dreading for what was to come. I could already see their inhuman faces grinning sickeningly at me, while they lashed at me again and again, hearing me scream, until throat raw and parched.

The door slid open, revealing my next bout of torturer's. Dressed in white lab coats, faces obscured with blank masks. Two of them.

One rolled a small operating table into a corner, silver instruments flashing in the corridor's lights outside. I gritted my teeth, staring up into the other's white mask, wishing to tear it off, and make him suffer for what sins he was about to commit. I lay there on the floor, energy lost long ago. They had drugged me at some point, jabbing a needle into my neck harshly. Whatever that had infected my bloodstream, affected my muscle movement and brain activity. Everything seemed to move sluggishly, out of focus.

Pain reactivity was also increased.

He –_it_- crouched beside me, grasping a sharp silver knife. I never closed my eyes, simply looking up at this other creature who could hardly be called a human being. I could almost see him smiling, skin stretched from ear to ear. The icy blade touched my skin, beading blood. I gazed up at the glaring lights, seeing her grey eyes. Hearing her swift hand release a bow.

"_I don't know. I just couldn't… bear the thought…of being without him". _

One tear escapes.

XXX

_Katniss Everdeen._

_Her_ name jerks me awake, disorientated, struggling against the bonds that hold me against the table. Hatred flashes through me like a knife. Her grey eyes, shining with bloodlust, pierce my mind, the memory hazy around the edges. I see her smile, teeth elongating into fangs dripping with blood. Clawed hands. Wild hair.

A Mutation.

A scream rips up and out of my throat. I kick against the restraints, blood dewing from rope burn around my ankles and wrists. I writhe upon the table, banging my head on the cool surface, ringing in my ears, blood pounding. A new memory jolts me still, immobilising my wrath.

I see her approaching. Crouched, ready to pounce, hands clawed ready to tear me apart. Her eyes shine with a bloodlust, glistening under the yellow moon in the arena. A wave of pure terror clasps my heart, air squeezed from my lungs. She snarls, her mouth dripping scarlet saliva. Her mutatious eyes bulged.

_She lunges. _

My last memory before the Capitol took me. Why didn't I remember this before?All those hours in that chamber, keeping quiet, _protecting_ her. A mutt. An abomination.

I hear footsteps approach, and the sound of a sliding door emits from my right. I train my eyes on my visitor, taking in his pale complexion, white hair, and withered face.

President Snow.

I recoil, baring my teeth in hostility, hands balled up in fists. He chuckles, the sound raising the hairs on my neck.

"No need to fear me boy. We're on the same side. Remember?" His blood-tinged breath zaps another eager memory to the front of my mind.

"Good luck Peeta. I'm counting on you." President Snow's voice is caressed with encouragement and warmth as I stand on the elevator, waiting for me to ascend into the arena. I grin back, hand pressed against the cool glass.

"_Promise me you'll take care of us in the arena? Make sure nothing bad happens to Katniss." I stare at him into his blue eyes, seeing trust there. I know I can completely trust him. He nods, and sighs, hand wiping sweat from his forehead. _

"_I'm going to abolish the Hunger Games after this Peeta, it's to cruel." These are the last words I hear, as the elevator suddenly jerks upwards, leaving me to stare down at him, his eyes full of remorse._

"I remember." I murmur hoarsely. I smile up at him, the smile feeling false somehow. Somewhere in my mind, alarm bells ring. I ignore it.

"Good lad. The Hijacking worked after all!" He smirks, patting me on the shoulder. I stare at him, puzzled. Hijacking?

He laughs, bathing me with the scent of blood and rotten flesh. I wrinkle my nose.

"Nothing to worry. I'll explain everything in good time. Now, why don't you tell me about Katniss Everdeen? What do you remember?" He pulls up a metal chair, and sits beside my head, hand moving my tousled locks from my eyes. I focus on the red rose pinned to his chest as I answer, voice trembling.

"She's a mutation."

Snow's face darkened, casting shadows over his eyes.

"I'm afraid she is. She wants to kill you. _She's_ the reason Panem is like it is now, why the Districts are living in poverty. Why the Hunger Games are underway." Remorse weighs his words, affecting me with him. I take a deep breath, eyes taking in the velvet texture of the crimson petals. I can smell their sweet, heady scent.

"Let me kill her. I'll end it. I'll end it _all_!" My yell of fury echoes around the small room, and I continue my thrashing once again, opening the scabs on my wrists and ankles.

President Snow laughed, and slipped out of the door, coughing and chuckling every few seconds. _Her_ face leered at me under my eyes, laughing to. Laughing at me. She holds up a corpse, and with a jolt I recognise it.

Prim.

I scream, and bang my head hard on the table. Blackness greets me, along with the numbing fury of pain and rage.


End file.
